World News Roundup: Kremlin says EU move not to recognise Lukashenko amounts to meddling in Belarus; COVID-19 outbreak hits EU patrol boat docked in Italy and more

In a statement ahead of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3, Putin called for a reset between Russia and the United States and said he wanted an agreement between the two countries to prevent incidents in cyberspace.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

'Like the Stasi': UK lawmaker slams COVID-era snooping

A British lawmaker photographed by a member of the public travelling in London without a face mask has said the COVID-19 pandemic is fostering a culture of snooping that recalls East Germany under the Stasi secret police. Britain has imposed stringent measures to fight a second wave of COVID-19, though there are growing calls from some businesses and lawmakers for more scrutiny of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decisions.

Kremlin says EU move not to recognise Lukashenko amounts to meddling in Belarus

Russia said on Friday that the European Union's decision not to recognise Alexander Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus contradicted international law and amounted to indirect meddling in the country. Lukashenko, in power since 1994, was inaugurated on Wednesday in a secretive ceremony after weeks of huge protests. He declared a landslide win at an election last month that was marred by vote-rigging allegations he denies.

COVID-19 outbreak hits EU patrol boat docked in Italy

Some 51 out of 186 crew members of a European Union naval vessel on Friday tested positive for the coronavirus, the EU's Irini military mission said in a statement, adding the infections were discovered following routine testing. The mission operates in the Mediterranean to stop arms from reach warring factions in Libya, enforcing an embargo imposed by the U.N. Security Council to stop military clashes and facilitate the peace process in the African country.

North Korean leader offers rare apology for killing of South Korean

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un apologised on Friday for the shooting death of a South Korean man to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, the South's national security adviser said, as public and political outrage over the killing grew. The apology came in a letter from the North's United Front Department, which handles cross-border ties, to South Korean President Moon Jae-in a day after South Korean officials said the North's soldiers killed the man, doused his body in fuel and set it on fire.

Russia's Navalny thanks 'unknown friends' for saving his life

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny said on Friday he owed his life to the pilots who made an emergency landing when he collapsed on a flight last month, and the paramedics he said had diagnosed poisoning and injected him with atropine. Navalny thanked his "unknown good friends" in the latest of a series of Instagram posts charting his gradual recovery from the poisoning, which German, French and Swedish laboratories have established was carried out with a nerve agent. Russia denies poisoning him and says it has seen no evidence.

Top Bollywood actors receive summons in Indian drug probe

Some of Bollywood's biggest actors are being questioned in a widening drug probe by federal agencies that has sent shockwaves through India's beleaguered film industry and dominated prime time news headlines. Officials from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have been investigating alleged drug use in Bollywood for the last month in connection with the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, a popular actor who was found dead at his residence in June.

Runny nose, stay home? Canada schools debate how to act on common cold symptoms

Just four days into the new school year, Trevor Boutilier's five-year-old son was sent home from his Ottawa kindergarten with a runny nose and slight cough, and told to stay away until he'd had a COVID-19 test and was symptom free. The local testing center was overrun, so Boutilier drove his son miles out of the city to a small town for the test. They waited for four days for the result, which came back negative.

At least two stabbed near Charlie Hebdo's former offices in Paris

At least two people were stabbed on Friday near the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris that was attacked by Islamist militants over five years ago, in an incident anti-terrorism police were investigating. Paris police said one person had been arrested. France Info radio said a second suspect was also in custody.

The ventilators never came: How graft hampered Brazil's COVID-19 response

As COVID-19 patients flooded Rio de Janeiro's public health system from early April to late May, Dr. Pedro Archer found himself making gut-wrenching decisions. People struggling to breathe needed ventilators, he said, but there weren't enough to go around; those with a slim chance of recovery were passed over.

Putin says Russia and U.S. should agree not to meddle in each other's elections

President Vladimir Putin called on Friday for an agreement between Russia and the United States to guarantee not to engage in cyber-meddling in each other's elections. In a statement ahead of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3, Putin called for a reset between Russia and the United States and said he wanted an agreement between the two countries to prevent incidents in cyberspace.

(With inputs from agencies.)